Learn to Love Again
by missinhalf
Summary: The light is always stronger than darkness


Sasuke is eight when he loses the ones he loves the most and who loved him unconditionally. Such a young innocent age to lose his loving mother, his hardworking father and his whole clan to the hands of his traitorous brother. He hates his brother for what he's done, vowing to take revenge for his slain clan.

Sasuke is thirteen when his soul and being is consumed by the darkness of revenge. Revenge is all he sees, revenge is all he hears, revenge is all he is. Revenge has been his sole goal which motivates him to get stronger and faster. Revenge is the reason he breaks the only bond he has managed to form with his team which reflects that of his deceased family. Revenge is the reason he almost kills his best friend and leaves the one girl who loves him. The one girl who shed tears for him; the one girl who is so precious to him, unconscious on a cold stone bench in the middle of the night.

Sasuke is sixteen when he takes his brother's life with his own hands. He succeeds with his revenge, but he doesn't feel the burden and hatred lifted off his shoulders. Instead, he stares at his shaking hands and feels the weight of murder on his back. He has just killed his brother; his brother he loves so much. His brother that he waited eagerly for everyday when he was a child to arrive home from school. His brother that played with him and protected him. His brother, the last Uchiha that loved him all along when he taps his forehead moments before he falls to the ground, dead. His brother who he grew to hate because his hands is stained with the Uchiha's clan split blood, and so is his. Sasuke is all alone.

Sasuke is twenty and his days of revenge are behind him. He is redeemed and has finally learned to love whole heartedly. He's always cared for her, his teammate that willingly risked her life for him. He doesn't understand why she would do something so foolish after everything he's done, but he finally realizes why. It's the same reason as when his body moves on its own; she doesn't want to lose someone precious to her as he doesn't either.

She is home to him. Her embrace is the warmth that's he's been neglected since his family died. Her smile sparks a new kind of rush in his heart that he's never felt before. Her smile is so enchanting that he constantly hates himself for almost taking that away from her all those years ago. And when he left her, he had striped her bare from the special things that made her, her. That made her Sakura.

She is so selfless, always giving whereas he is so selfish, always taking. She almost gave her life for him, she almost sacrificed herself for him. She was about to cast side their own village for him when all he ever did was be the cause of her tears to spill from her vibrant, emerald eyes. When he left, he took her bright smile, her cheerful laughter, the gleam from her eyes and he took her heart as well. All he left was a hole, an ache, where her heart once beat for him. When they met again the in Land of Iron, he almost took the last precious thing he could ever take from her: her life.

Every time he holds her in his arms he holds her as if that's the last time. He holds her with everything he's got and everything he is. He holds her as if she's going to walk away from him after realizing how much better she could do. He doesn't want to let her go, and she constantly reassures him that she's not going anywhere unless he is right there by her side.

Sasuke is twenty-two when he makes her his wife, giving her his heart that was once consumed with hatred and now is filled with his love for her. He is selfish yet again, when he takes her Haruno name, replacing it with that of the infamous Uchiha. The Uchiha name is filled with so much sadness, blood, and death that he's afraid that this name will taint her. He's afraid her pastel colours will fade away or worse, darken into something unrecognizable. He's afraid that one day she can't take the weight of such a name and leave, but she tells him on their wedding night that she'll always be with him 'til death do us part.'

"No," he says as he leans down to kiss her forehead, "not til death do us part because even in the afterlife I will always be with you."

He loves her the way she deserves to be loved, giving all of him to her. Opening up all his closed doors to let the light in to ward away the darkness and all the demons that he allowed to harbour his body and soul. She loves him for his darkest moments and the happy ones. She loves him because he is Sasuke, her first love and her last.

Sasuke is twenty-five when he becomes a father. He watches his wife both scream and whimper in pain and wishes with all his might that he could stop her suffering and take all the pain off of her and onto himself.

He holds her hand throughout the delivery keeping his eyes on her sweat covered face until he hears the cries of the baby. _Their _baby.

The nurses clean it up and wraps it in a white towel before placing it gently in his arms.

"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha, it's a girl!"

Sasuke's eyes does not leave their daughter's face. He is entranced by her, from her innocent onyx eyes of wonder to her button nose and small lips. He feels tears welling up in his eyes and allows one to fall. This child, their daughter, is the product of something so rare but yet so real, true love.

"You're finally not the last Uchiha," she cries tears of joy as she admires the sight of her husband holding their precious daughter.

"I never was the last until I married you." He places their daughter in her arms and kisses her diamond seal on her forehead. "Thank you, Sakura, for giving me a family."

Sarada is seven months old when she says her first word: Papa. Sasuke is overwhelmed with emotions that he doesn't know how to react. Sakura sequels with excitement and rushes out of the room to get her notebook to record this accomplishment. Sasuke caresses Sarada's chubby cheek and gives her a heartwarming smile which prompts Sarada to giggle.

Sarada is two years old when she articulates the sentence that makes Sasuke spill tears. Sakura is at the hospital, working, while he is at home with their daughter. At two, she is able to walk and no longer needs diapers, but she has issues with forming words into sentences. He has spent the past couple of days to get her to say the following phrase, but instead she substitutes Mama with Papa. _I love you, Papa._

Never has Sasuke thought he deserved all of this. All this love, and kindness when he threw all those things away in the past.

"But the past is the past. Who you were 10 years ago, is not who you are today," Sakura coos as she cradles his head against her chest in his moment of insecurity. "You deserve all of this, Sasuke-kun. You lost your family, the only ones you truly loved, at such a young age thinking that only being consumed by darkness is the only way to survive. Because of that you lost the light, but it's okay now. I'm here and so is Sarada-chan and we'll be that light you need to ward away the darkness." She pulls his head away from her chest and looks him in his onyx eyes. "As long as we're under the same sky, I'll always love you."


End file.
